Yikes! I'm leaving for Coeur d'Alene this afternoon for my Olympic on Saturday morning. I don't think I am nearly as ready as I'd hoped and am trying not to look beyond it to the two sprints left on my schedule. I need to focus on the task at hand which is finishing on my feet. Wish me luck!

Finished! My super secret goal time was 3:45. I missed it by 40 seconds, but I'm pretty pleased all in all. The bike course was so, so hilly. I fueled and hydrated well, but didn't have enough hill training behind me. I'd love to try this distance again on a nice rolling course!

Thanks! I was just looking over results and, man, do I have a lot of work to do on the bike! There were people half my age who finished half an hour ahead of me, but who I beat in the swim split AND the run split. I just get dropped on the bike by... well, almost everyone.

Sprint in PDX this morning. My swim split sucked hard; I was sun-blind most of the time and swam off course because I couldn't find the bouys to sight off of. BUT, I made my second goal time that I set for the season. I added another race next weekend on a whim, but I'm not too concerned about it. I've achieved my goals for the season. Maybe next season I can actually get good at this! :P

I haven't signed up for anything but as soon as my my marathon is done I am taking a Total Immersion Swim class. I am might take a master's bike skills course too. So maybe a tri for me in the fall? (eep!)

On Monday I'm hiring a triathlon coach! I've been on a team for a year. Some of our workouts are coached and we get a fair amount of input and support but I really think I'm going to need more personalized guidance and someone to be accountable to.

So, 2011 USAT amateur/age group rankings are out and I actually made the list. I am a nationally ranked triathlete! 2174th in my age group. (Yes, that's miles and miles of room for improvement... :P)

I still only have my 70.3 scheduled but coach wants me to do at least one Olympic beforehand so that'll probably be in June. Whether or not I schedule any tris after my A race depends on what marathon I plan to do (I'm in the lottery for NYC, but there's almost no chance of getting in... maybe 5%?)

Lobsterrific, does San Jose not have any public pools? Seattle parks & rec has a dozen or so. The lap times are not the most convenient and I ended up having to join a gym to get more flexibility to swim when I want/need to, but the public pool worked well last year.

San Jose does have public pools, but A) I don't have a car and they are a pain to get to, and B) I was laid off in November and haven't been able to find another job yet so money is tight. And running is FREE! :)

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

Yes vegan triathletes! Some great achievements here - monkeytoes any kind of ranking is amazing in my eyes :) My 'A' race will be the London Virgin Triathlon (no injury/disaster permitting) in late Sept - my first olympic distance. It feels a long way off so I'd really like to get some super/sprints in open water down as well. I have a half marathon in a month, will probably be rowing until the end of the season (early June) and am doing the Three Peaks Challenge (Climbing the 3 highest mountains in the UK in under 24hrs!) in May so it's kind of hard to fit it all in! Biking gives me the most anxiety, I just don't feel like I can ride at a competitive pace over 40k and have any legs left after. REALLY need to be getting a base down now ahhhh. I really like having lots of stuff going on and challenges to work on though.

Yay, another triathlete! Katie, the bike gives me the most anxiety as well. But I just did my first training transition run of the season and the improvement I've made in my running since last summer is really what's made the difference in terms of having my legs under me after a long ride. I don't know that I will ever really feel like I'm competitive on the bike (especially as long as I'm riding a road bike... can't afford to upgrade to a fancy tt bike this year!) But having the legs left seems to me to depend an awful lot on how well you're trained running-wise. Of course, when I end up walking most of my half marathon after 56 miles on the bike, I will probably eat my words!

My first tri of the season is a month from today! I'm doing an Olympic to start the season, and that will probably be the only one before my half-Iron in July. I'm excited to see how much time I can shave off of last year's Oly.

Also, I got some Zoot racing flats last night and I love them so much! Zip laces for speedy transitions, a bootie liner so I can go sockless (though I probably won't because I'm not sure how comfy my bike shoes will be without socks,) and so, so light!

I just started swimming again last week after years of none or little. Swimming used to be my main exercise and I taught swimming and was a lifeguard when I was younger. I know a lot of beginning triathletes struggle with swimming so I always knew if I wanted to try tri (ha!) I would be a step ahead. I have been running for about 12 years, sometimes more, sometimes less. I have never raced bikes though I like to ride fast, but I know that like you (katie and MT) the bike will likely be my nemesis.

What has always kept me back has been time and money, but now I have more of both of those, and membership at a pool, so maybe next year.

Katie, you are a demon! I can understand having trouble fitting all that in. You are both an inspiration.

Definitely try one next year! Riding in a tri is way, way different from bike racing. There's no drafting, so there's none of that riding in a pack and timing your break kind of strategy stuff. It's really just you riding. Hopefully fast. :)

First tri of the season done! It was supposed to be an Olympic distance, but the swim was super short. I did it in 18:34 so I'm guessing that it was approximately half a mile and we were supposed to do two loops, but the announcer with the course instructions just told us to do one. I got out of the water and thought my watch was broken! The bike was 25.95 miles, mostly rolling with a couple of moderate hills. Nothing like what I'm looking at in my 70.3 (which I'm scared shiitake-less of at this point.) The run was really short at 4.64 miles, though it was listed on their site as 6.5. Not sure what happened there because it's not hard to plot a run course! But it was put on by a gym and it was only their second year, so I guess I shouldn't have expected much. I can't begin to compare it to last year's Olympic, which was all regulation distances, but I'm glad to have the race experience and I had a pretty good ride (for me, anyway.) It's also the first time I've ever run an entire tri run, but I knew that wasn't going to be an issue this year because I've been running really well off the bike in training. Official results aren't posted yet, but from what I can figure, my transitions were pretty quick (again... for me... have you ever watched the pros transition? It's like a work of art... a very, very fast work of art!)